Slow Play ethics

Full Tilt Site Rules, item #6 states;

Soft playing or chip dumping is not allowed. Any unethical play may result in the suspension or termination of the offender's account.

I couldn't find anything equivalent at stars, it might be there, but I couldn't find it.


So the question is, regarding soft play, is this a general provision or a specific. More specifically, in regards to slow play and traps. It isn't hard to put both into the soft play arena.

The one difference that I would comment on is that in either a slowplay or a trap, the intent is a late street pop. But what if that scare cards comes that makes a late street pop too risky? Does that hand then read like a soft play?

No, I doubt it. If you check back the nuts on the river, you will look suspicious. Checking the nuts on the river OOP is not something anyone will raise any eyebrows at.

F Paulsson said:

No, I doubt it. If you check back the nuts on the river, you will look suspicious. Checking the nuts on the river OOP is not something anyone will raise any eyebrows at.

Click to expand...

So..the braindead loose/passive that checked quads behind on the river the other day was... what chip dumping to me?

Actually..yeah i think he might have been...

/true story

You don't need to worry about this unless you're actually chip dumping. Bad play is just bad play.

Slow play and soft play are two completely different things. Soft play is kind of like whole table is colluding against the poker site in order to gain points for promotions or something like that. Of course slow play is a playing strategy that is totally legit.

dj11 said:

Full Tilt Site Rules, item #6 states;

Soft playing or chip dumping is not allowed. Any unethical play may result in the suspension or termination of the offender's account.

Click to expand...

Technically it is a collusion rule.

It is what I used to see all the time at UB freerolls when a table had played toether for a while and it was getting close to to cut off for a tournament chip + $9 qualifier on UB.

The table would soft play and dump on the low man so that the whole table would qualify.

I loved these tables so I could push all-in when short stack was in BB.

tbdbitl said:

Technically it is a collusion rule.

Click to expand...

^ this.

It's about collusion, not slow playing or trapping.

Soft-Play:
To go easy on another player at the table (e.g., not betting or raising against him). Suppose you and your brother are the last two people left in a hand. On the river, you have the nuts, but he bets. If you don't raise, you are "soft-playing" him.

I guess this happens a lot.

I should look for it more while I play.
But if it does happen all you can do about it is Pull in the Table Mods and hope they look into it.

My question is why do people have to cheat to win.
Just put some effort in and learn how to play.

Soft Play and any other cheating methods.
Not Cool.

If you lose a football bet to a friend and go to a table and dump 10.00 to him and they find out....it is a violation on most sites. You need to transfer the money if possible. I have a buddy that did exactly what I am talking about and they closed his account for 5 days until he could explain the actions of his play.

Slow play should be done when one feels that the other isnt expecting you
too. Too many people slow play consistently, and this because a nice little
read for the opponent. Every good player mixes up their game in all
variations of poker, and slow play, also called trapping and a number of
other terms, is only one of the many techniques a poker player can trick
a player into giving him his chips. Think about that the next time your
at the end of the poker table.

Slow play can earn you a lot of chips but a lot of time it turns on you and your the one that gets cooked.

Is really anybody banned from full tilt because of this rule?!?

Is slow-play with the best hand at a certain time advisable? Slow-play can mean medium bets right? Or does that just mean check-calling whatever.

The only reason soft playing is ever an issue is for image. It's mostly used for example say it's 3-handed and 2 are soft-playing so the 3rd person thinks they play different. It can actually go the opposite way as well, say 2 people who are friends and just chop wins/losses at the end just bet/raise/raise everything so they get all-in with hands like 29o and J7o so the 3rd person thinks "wow they're stacking everything" but whenever they get all-in with them they always have the nuts. Or like I said the opposite, don't bet at all so they assume you're really passive when in reality it's just against the one guy.

RA2000 said:

Is really anybody banned from full tilt because of this rule?!?

Click to expand...

Almost certainly - from Full Tilt, and other sites.

Exactly how good they are at picking it up is another question, but if someone reports a suspicion and site admin finds evidence of it, they'll absolutely be punished for it.

The catch, of course, is the evidence bit. Often soft play and stupid play can look very similar. I've seen people check nut hands on the river when they're last to act, for example: are they colluding, or are they just stupid? It's for admin to decide I guess, though I'd suspect the latter.